‘Survivor 43’: Ryan’s Secret Goal in His Merge Alliance Pitch, ‘It Was More of a Trap’

Survivor showed a very surprising merge feast. That’s because Ryan Medrano pitched a final seven alliance. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Ryan on Nov. 17 about this moment and his unusual strategy over Zoom. This is how he explained his pitch was a trap.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Survivor Season 43 Episode 9, “What About the Big Girls.”]

Ryan said his merge alliance was a trap on ‘Survivor 43’

Q: You knew you were on the bottom of that tribe, but then the merge happens. You pitched a final seven with the people at that merge dinner. We saw the reactions on the show from other castaways that, to them, it didn’t make sense. But what was the reaction in that space with you?

Ryan: So, to put this out there, when I said the final seven, I wasn’t expecting anybody to bite that. I was I was putting that out there. So this next vote, I saw who would go against who was there or the majority of the people that were at the merge feast.

So it was more, ‘Hey let’s be final seven.’ And then we see who votes not with the people that are in my alliance in a way. So I’m like, ‘OK, I can’t necessarily trust this person, this person, this person.’ It was more of a trap, in my opinion, to lay out. Not an actual plan that I thought would work. If it could that would be amazing. But I didn’t expect anything from these people that I had known for 24 hours and just won a challenge.

Like Jeanine said, ‘I’m not gonna work with you just because you pulled me up wall.’ Like, you’re right. You shouldn’t work with me just because I pulled you up a wall. I’m just trying to see. Test the waters to see what you guys think and pick your brains.

Because with my mild cerebral palsy, I have to get negative body language. And I have to see how people are when they’re being honest. So if I can see how people are uncomfortable with the question and what they respond to, and how they closed themselves off or what ticks they have in them. OK, So when I’m talking to them, and they do this, I can’t necessarily trust them. So it was, there was multiple things in play when I asked them.

Q: OK, do you think your mission was successful?

Ryan: Actually, yeah, it was more successful than I thought it would be, at least for a couple of votes. It did go with how that reaction from that first vote, the Elie vote. It helped me see. OK, Elie went and this is how it voted because Gabler really put her out there. And then the Dwight vote, there’s this amount of people actually voted with me. These people were with me at the table, and they voted against me.

So when I saw that Jeanine voted against, I was like ‘OK, Jeanine needs to go home.’ So that’s that was my process of elimination and how I could read people, and I could try to figure out what I needed to do or how people reacted to certain situations.

The touching reason why Ryan focused on food

Q: Yeah, to be fair game, Gabler doesn’t probably say–well, who knows what Gable would’ve done. Cause I feel like he’s a very chaotic person. You guys probably could have been talking about something completely different, and he still would have thrown out Elie’s name. But I think I’ll still give you that credit.

A running theme with you was that you had to eat first, then you’ll strategize. But that repeatedly rubbed some people the wrong way, at least it seemed, who are more focused on the game. What’s your response to what your priorities were, which is survival? I think you’re a survivalist, I would say.

Ryan: So I guess it’s my heart. Before I left my mom made a comment. I don’t know why stuck in my mind so much. A couple of weeks before I left, she’s like, ‘When you get back, I want to have more family dinners.’

That really stuck with me when I went out for some reason. So when I was around people that I’m going to have to live and depend on. I thought if we’re full, if we’ve eaten we can make better decisions. We don’t want to make decisions where you’re hungry, angry, upset or sad. So at least I can eliminate the hungry part.

And then on top of that, I’m the one providing the food. So they’re like, well, thank you, Ryan, for all this food. You know, you just caught, nine, 15, 25 fish. So let’s, you know, at least give me your ear before we go and vote somebody out. I feel like it worked to an extent. But other people were like, ‘Well, all he’s doing is fishing.’ No, I strategized. I just wasn’t strategizing with you.

Ryan reveals how he found out he was rubbing people the wrong way

Q: Yeah, Ryan. I think I think your strategy automatically goes against, like, all reality TV. Like producers want you hungry, want you upset. Like that, and you’re like, No this could be a utopia. And it’s like, no, that’s not what we’re going for. It was a great–you’re such a kind– like, I think such a kind and nice person. But you’re like automatically the antagonist now because you are so against this environment. It’s so good. Your strategy was to keep other people fed like you said. Were you surprised by how many people did not respect that like strategy?

Ryan: [Laughs] Not necessarily. I also think it’s not just because the keep people fed. I did a lot of hard work, and there was a lot of things that when I approached a situation of getting something done, I have a lot of experience doing things. I do woodworking and talk to a lot of people with their experiences. So when I go, ‘Hey, let’s try it this way’ and it works sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.

Geo you actually pointed that out before he was gone. He goes, ‘Hey, you’re great at everything you do, but because of that, people can look at you and be like, I don’t like this guy doing everything. He’s good at it.’ And I was like, ‘Ah damn.’

But it’s hard for me not to want to accomplish something the best way I know how. So I think that’s one of the reasons why some people were rubbed the wrong way, because I even made like cleaner picks to clean our fingers and toothpicks between our mouths with bamboo. I made chopsticks for everybody. I was trying to, you know, do more so that it wasn’t as hard of a struggle. So I think that, you know, he’s doing a lot, but it’s it’s sometimes rubs people the wrong way.

Q: I’m so curious, just personally, what’s your Zodiac sign?

Ryan: I am a Virgo.

This interview has been condensed for this article.

Other Exit Interviews:

‘Survivor 43’: Jeanine Says ‘Kudos’ to Jesse Keeping Her ‘Baby’ in the Game

‘Survivor 43’: Dwight on That Idol Mystery and a Jesse and Karla Preseason Theory

‘Survivor 43’: Geo Responds to Cassidy’s ‘Sassy’ Comments and Says ‘Karla Had the Bullets’ Not Her

‘Survivor 43’: Lindsay Hates You Think She’s out for ‘Paranoia’ and Not Karla’s Strategy

‘Survivor 43’: Nneka Talks Struggling in That Challenge, Bonding With Cody, and More

‘Survivor 43’: Justine Says ‘Hats off!’ to Cody for Clever Idol Hat, Shares What the Edit Left Out

Morriah on Disappointing the Dad of ‘Survivor 43’ and Not Believing Gabler